Schools employee charged with underage sex with teenager

When the mother of a 15-year-old girl said she was having behavior problems with her daughter, a prosecutor says, Shawn Edward Nowlin offered to take her in and help the girl work on her issues.

But detectives allege he had sex with the girl and impregnated her, leading to his arrest on charges of second-degree rape, sex abuse of a minor and second-degree assault, according to Harford County prosecutor Lisa Marts.

Marts said Nowlin had identified himself as a school administrator and a child and family counselor. But as far as Harford County child investigators could determine, Nowlin, 27, who lives on the 1400 block of St. Christopher Court in Edgewood, worked as a hall monitor at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore, Marts said

"He called himself a child doctor or therapist, and that's what the parents thought," Marts said.

Arrested Monday, Nowlin told investigators he worked as a vice principal or "dean of students" at Hazelwood, a claim they soon debunked, Marts said. Even Nowlin's wife thought he was a school administrator, she added.

Marts said that Nowlin is accused of statutory rape and that the sexual interaction was consensual. The sex abuse charge stems from his having supervision over the child, she said.

In a statement, the school district said Nowlin is not currently employed with Baltimore City Public Schools. He was a temporary employee and then a contractor at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School from September 2011 to September 2012.

Marts said that the alleged victim did not attend Hazelwood — she is a student in Harford County — and that Nowlin met her and her parents outside of school functions. She said Nowlin was released on $750,000 bail, posted by his mother.

Nowlin could not be reached Wednesday.

Investigators became aware of the case when the victim and mother approached Maryland State Police on Sunday. State police referred the case to the Harford County Child Advocacy Center, which investigates child crimes and is made up of Harford sheriff's and state police detectives and prosecutors.